The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne by Unknown

First transcribed:Voyage de Charlemagne à Jérusalem et à Constantinople, c. 1100 (English translation, 1927)

Type of work: Poetry

Type of plot: Folklore

Time of plot: c. 800

Locale: Paris, Jerusalem, and Constantinople

Principal characters

• Charlemagne, the Frankish king and emperor of the West
• Hugo, the emperor of Greece and of Constantinople
• Roland, ,
• Oliver, ,
• William of Orange, ,
• Naimes, ,
• Ogier of Denmark, ,
• Gerin, ,
• Berenger, ,
• Turpin the Archbishop, ,
• Ernaut, ,
• Aymer, ,
• Bernard of Brusban, and
• Bertram, Charlemagne’s twelve peers

The Poem:

Emperor Charlemagne, accompanied by his queen, the twelve peers, and many others, goes to the Abbey of St. Denis. Charlemagne is elegantly garbed and wears his fine sword as well as his splendid crown. Proud of his prepossessing mien, he boasts of his power and majestic appearance, confidently asking the queen if she had ever seen another as impressive as he. Impatient with this vanity, the queen chides Charlemagne for his inordinately high opinion of himself and suggests that there is a king handsomer than he.

The emperor, angry over this public humiliation, commands the queen to name the rival king so that their respective courts could meet and decide which of the two is handsomer, threatening the queen with decapitation if it is determined that she has spoken falsely about the other king’s superior appearance. Frightened, the queen tearfully pleads for mercy, pretends forgetfulness, and then amends her claim to say that, although richer, the other king is not nearly so brave as Charlemagne. Still unsatisfied, Charlemagne demands to know the identity of the other king, again threatening to cut off the queen’s head immediately if she does not acquiesce. The queen then admits that it is Hugo, the emperor of Greece and Constantinople and ruler of vast lands in Persia.

When Charlemagne and his entourage return to the palace in Paris, the emperor declares to the assembled peers and knights of France that, attended by his imperial retinue, he will go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to pray in Jerusalem at the Holy Sepulchre, to make the Stations of the Cross, and then to continue on to Constantinople to visit Emperor Hugo. For the journey, with the blessings of Archbishop Turpin, all twelve peers—Roland, Oliver, William of Orange, Naimes, Ogier of Denmark, Gerin, Berenger, Ernaut, Aymer, Bernard of Brusban, Bertram the Strong, as well as Turpin—the rest of the imperial retainers, and Charlemagne himself, are outfitted as pilgrims. Equipped with pilgrims’ scrip, they carry no weapons, only sharp oaken staves, but they are accompanied by many beasts of burden, laden with riches. With blessings from the Abbey of St. Denis, the imperial troupe, including Turpin, sets off. Along the way, Charlemagne draws Bertram aside to call his attention to the eighty-thousand-man pilgrimage and to boast once more of the power and the might of the leader of such a group.

Arriving in Jerusalem, the emperor and his fellows visit the shrine of the Last Supper, where the bearded Charlemagne and his twelve peers audaciously sit in the chairs allegedly once occupied by Christ and his twelve disciples. A passing Jew observes this charade and forthwith informs the patriarch of Jerusalem, who instantly collects a procession of priests and acolytes to investigate the phenomenon.

The patriarch of Jerusalem respectfully greets Charlemagne, who identifies himself as Charles of France, mighty conqueror of twelve kings in search of a thirteenth conquest, and as a devout Christian pilgrim. The patriarch declares that he who occupies Christ’s seat must be Charles the Great—Charles Magnus or Charlemagne—above all other crowned heads. The patriarch generously accedes to Charlemagne’s request for sacred relics, giving him St. Simon’s armlet; Lazarus’s shroud; a vial of St. Stephen’s blood; a piece of the Holy Shroud; one of the nails from the Cross; the crown of thorns; the chalice, the silver bowl, and Christ’s own dinner knife from the Last Supper; clippings from the whiskers and the hair of St. Peter; a vial of the Virgin’s milk; and a piece of the Virgin’s robe. As Charlemagne accepts these relics, a disabled person is cured of his afflictions, attesting the divine power of the relics. A magnificent gold and silver chest is made for transporting these holy treasures, and the collection is consigned to the keeping of Archbishop Turpin.

Charlemagne and his men stay four months in Jerusalem. Then, with pledges of Christian fealty and defense of the faith, they leave for Constantinople, where Charlemagne’s thoughts have lately turned again to Emperor Hugo. Arriving a few miracles later, the travelers are stunned by the beauty and opulence of Constantinople. Emperor Hugo, however, is not there to greet them. Inquiry discloses that he is plowing, under a silken-canopied chariot with a gold plow and golden-yoked oxen, making furrows as straight as a taut bowstring. When Charlemagne seeks out Hugo, the two emperors greet each other cordially, each noting the other’s comely physique. Hugo, having earlier been apprised of Charlemagne’s noble bearing, welcomes the French peers and knights graciously, promising lavish gifts and warm hospitality if they will remain for an extended visit. Remembering the queen’s words, Charlemagne and his company are astonished by the richness of Hugo’s palace and courtiers.

Suddenly, however, the palace is struck by a strong wind. The entire building seems to spin, and the Frenchmen become dizzy and cannot stand up. Just as suddenly the wind dies down, and the Frenchmen regain their balance. Then dinner is served, a fine feast in which no gustatory request or desire is not met. Spiced claret flows freely. Oliver is smitten with love for Hugo’s beautiful blonde daughter. Minstrels sing to musical accompaniment, and great entertainment ensues.

After the feast is over, Hugo leads Charlemagne and his twelve peers to a luxuriously appointed apartment where they are to spend the night. More wine is brought, and the Frenchmen begin to make themselves comfortable. The wily Hugo, however, unbeknownst to his guests, posts a spy in a nearby stairwell to report on the visitors’ postprandial conversation. Filled with wine and unaware that they are being overheard, Charlemagne and his twelve companions wax jolly and daring. They begin to brag, as is their late-evening custom following much wine. At first, they merely note the vulnerability of Hugo’s rich estates to their superior military power, but then each one, in turn, begins making a derogatory boast about individually overpowering Hugo’s might. In this way, les gabs (a typical epic-formula device) are played out—the bragging, boasting, half-serious, and half-joking vaunts of Charlemagne and his twelve peers.

As was fitting, Charlemagne begins the boasting. He scoffs that, were Hugo to array his best knight in two suits of armor, he, Charlemagne, would wield Hugo’s own sword to penetrate that armor and pin the knight into the earth to a long spear’s depth. Charlemagne’s nephew, Roland, boasts that he would take Hugo’s ivory horn and, with a single blast, level Constantinople as well as singe Hugo’s very beard. At Roland’s urging, Oliver speaks next. He says that if Hugo would but loan him his daughter for a night, Oliver would demonstrate his sexual prowess by possessing her one hundred times before the morrow. Archbishop Turpin is invited to make the next contribution. Befitting his calling, Turpin proposes a harmless physical feat involving the juggling of apples while vaulting two galloping horses to mount a third. William of Orange thereupon proposes to use a large, decorative gold-and-silver ball in that very room to demolish more than 160 cubits of wall around Hugo’s palace, and Ogier of Denmark jeers that he would play Samson and dislodge a palace pillar to bring the entire structure down.

The aged Naimes boasts that, clad in Hugo’s own chain-mail tunic, he would jump from the battlements of the palace and back so quickly that Hugo would not even notice and then destroy the hauberk with a mere quiver. Berenger brags that he would jump from the highest tower in the palace onto the upturned blades of the swords of all of Hugo’s knights without suffering a scratch. Bernard then claims he would divert a river, cause a flood, and force Hugo to beg from a high tower for surcease. Ernaut boasts that he would sit in a vat of molten lead until it hardened and then shake himself loose from it. In like manner, Aymer boasts that he would banquet at Hugo’s table, then don a cap to make himself invisible and deliver Hugo a beard-shattering blow. Bertram offers to beat two shields together so loudly that the sound would deafen or disperse all wildlife in the area. Finally, Gerin brags that he would stack two coins upon a post, stand at a league’s distance, and, with his spear, topple one coin without disturbing the other, then run the league’s distance to catch the falling coin before it hit the ground.

Hugo’s spy promptly reports these mocking, derisive taunts to Hugo, which both spy and emperor construe literally. Hugo, outraged at such an affront to his hospitality, gathers his knights and confronts Charlemagne the next morning. Somewhat taken aback, Charlemagne tries to soothe Hugo’s ire by explaining the influence of the claret and the French custom of les gabs, but Hugo will have none of it. Hugo demands that the boasts be fulfilled or he will order Charlemagne and his twelve peers beheaded. In desperation, Charlemagne prays over his trove of relics. Then an angel appears to him, reassuring him that no peer will fail to execute his boast—yet another miracle to rescue the French—but warning him to foreswear such mockery and bragging in the future.

Charlemagne calls together his peers and offers Hugo the choice as to which boast should be attempted first. William of Orange is given the initial challenge. With divine assistance, he heaves the gold-and-silver ball through more than 160 cubits of wall and the palace as well, causing massive destruction. Next, Bernard, with God’s aid, creates a mighty flood, which God abates in his own good time. So impressed is Hugo that he requires no further demonstrations of Frankish power and immediately becomes Charlemagne’s vassal.

The occasion is celebrated with great feasting, and the two emperors display themselves regally before their assembled knights and attendants. The combined courts judge Charlemagne the fairest of the two kings. Then the French depart for their journey back to Paris. Buoyed by this bloodless conquest, Charlemagne is in such a good mood that he forgives the queen and does not have her beheaded.

Bibliography

Cobby, Anne Elizabeth. Ambivalent Conventions: Formula and Parody in Old French. New York: Rodopi, 1995. Cobby’s study of parody in the fabliaux devotes almost eighty pages to an analysis of The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne. She demonstrates how the work subverts the conventions of medieval French epics and romances to create a complex and nuanced parody.

Cobby, Anne Elizabeth, and Glyn S. Burgess, eds. Introduction to The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne and Aucassin and Nicollette, translated by Glyn S. Burgess. New York: Garland, 1988. In this introduction, Cobby discusses the aesthetic qualities of The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne, provides information on textual matters, and comments on possible sources of inspiration for its writing.

Grigsby, John L. The Gab as a Latent Genre in Medieval French Literature: Drinking and Boasting in the Middle Ages. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 2000. The medieval gab was a literary genre featuring characters who were idle braggarts. Grigsby examines this genre, focusing his discussion on The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne.

Muir, Lynette. Literature and Society in Medieval France: The Mirror and the Image, 1100-1500. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. Muir traces the composition history of the poem, noting how the work differs from other chansons de geste in its extensive use of humor and fantastic detail.

Polak, Lucie. “Charlemagne and the Marvels of Constantinople.” In The Medieval Alexander Legend and Romance Epic, edited by Peter Noble et al. Millwood, N.Y.: Kraus International, 1982. Polak examines the technological marvels described as part of the hero’s visit to Constantinople, suggesting possible historical inspirations for those imagined marvels.